Midnight Conversations
by Shikabane-Mai
Summary: House was here in her bedroom. Uninvited. God, how screwed up that was. HouseCuddy


_Disclaimer: I don't own House M.D_

**Pairing: **House/Cuddy

**Summary: **House was here, in her bedroom. Uninvited. God, how screwed up that was. HouseCuddy

* * *

**Midnight Conversations**

She woke up to the roar of an engine resounding somewhere outside her window before it quickly died down. There was a flare of headlights, a slam of a car door, and then nothing. She ignored it all though. Any other day, she might have realized by now that House had possibly just arrived in her driveway, but today, she was too damn tired to care.

It was still dark out, no where near dawn but she didn't dare glance at the clock. She could never fall back to sleep after knowing the time, it had been like that her whole life and right now, sleep was definitely her number one.

House as usual, had been a pain in the ass the entire time, refusing to do his clinic hours and when he actually _did _do them, he just ended up verbally abusing the patients.

After hours of constantly yelling at him, she had given up. It was absolutely exhausting and now she had no more patience left to deal with him. He was a brilliant doctor, but sometimes she wondered why she still kept him employed.

"You know, you should seriously find a better hiding place for your key. The pot is _so _'out'."

Her eyes snapped open, blinking as her mind slowly processed what was happening.

House was here, in her bedroom. Uninvited. God, how screwed up that was.

She sat up, blankets falling down her shoulders. The rush of cold air against her pale skin stung but she didn't clutch the covers back. No need to give House the impression that she was being modest.

House smiled smugly from her doorway, his expression clashing perfectly with Cuddy's. His blue eyes stood out in the dark even as they wandered up and down her frame, nodding approvingly at her choice in night clothes.

Pale pink, loose tank top, he noted. An unbuttoned button at the top closest to her neckline. Nice.

His cane clunked on her carpet as he hobbled over to her bedside lamp before turning it on with a click. The sudden brightness burned her eyes and she quickly shut them tight.

"House," she hissed, fighting to control her anger, both for nearly blinding her and for appearing _uninvited _in her house. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now." Even though she still had her eyes shut, she could already imagine that he must be grinning like a triumphant 5 year old right now.

"Uh, because you secretly want me?" he asked, trying to play dumb and fully aware that it wasn't the best approach. But he loved seeing her annoyed or angry, especially if he was the cause.

Her eyes flashed dangerously, warning him, giving him a hint that she was not in the mood to play one of his games right now.

He didn't take it however, and continued poking and prodding at the already ripping seams of her controlled anger, "You see, today, I went to a psychiatrist - "

Cuddy laughed, allowing the dry humor to lace her voice, "What, you've finally realized that you're crazy?"

"No, I've finally realized that _you're _a hypocrite."

"Isn't everyone?" She asked though the question was rhetorical, and got off the bed, grabbing her robe. She chose to ignore House's leering gaze and he pouted when the robe completely covered his favorite assets.

"So what do you have under those pink fluffs?" House asked, pointing the end of his wooden cane at her. "Pink has always been my favorite color on women by the way. I _knew _you'd wear it just for me."

Cuddy raised a hand to her head, rubbing her temples there. Her mind was screaming at her to kick him out of her house and then go back to sleep before her brain completely shut down. Experience, on the other hand, was telling her to get out of the bedroom. The last time something like this happened many years ago, (although there had been alcohol and a dorm room involved), they'd ended up skin to skin on the bed with their limbs entangled and their heavy breathing fogging up the windows of the tiny bedroom.

House followed her when she walked out of the room. She only got as far as the doorway before House's hand shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her quite forcefully. Her shoulder joints groaned in pain and she spun around, anger flashing in her equally blue, but tired, eyes and died down just as fast when he put a hand to her forehead.

"You're stressed," he observed after a moment of silence and frowned. "And your temperature is just below 100."

"Gee, I wonder why?" She retorted sarcastically and removed his hand from her head. "It's nothing, I'm fine."

He gave her a skeptical look and she sighed. House seemed pleased that she wasn't even struggling to get away from him. His hand was on her upper arm while his other hand, the one that was still holding his cane, reached for her neck where he could feel her pulse. At work, Cuddy would have pushed him away the moment he touched her but here, in private, there was no reputation or image to keep up. House of course, wouldn't have minded doing something like this at the hospital—the rumors that would spread faster than wildfire there, only adding fuel to the already untrue, and not so untrue, rumors that already existed about them sleeping together.

"House," she pressed, too tired to fight his grip or even notice that their distance was only inches apart. "What do you want?" She instantly regretted her choice in words.

"_Well_… " He drawled purposely and grinned. "You, of course."

"_Other _than me," she said, and before he could open his mouth to say something again. "Or any other part of my body. Why did you come here, into my house, into my bedroom, in the middle of the night?"

"I wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk. You know, like old friends do?"

Cuddy's eyes narrowed as the ends of her lips curved down. "You woke me up at," she began, voice under tight control as she glanced at her bedside clock, "2 in the morning to talk?! House—"

Her yelling stopped suddenly even though he hadn't done anything to interrupt her. Her breathing was heavy as her head pounded in sync with her heart beat. And her light fever was only making it worse—then again, _House _was making it the _worser_ than worse.

"This is important."

House's tone was unreadable and she wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. Ninety-nine percent of the time he _was_ lying, so she opted to go with that.

"Really?" She asked. Two could play at that game, Cuddy decided, so she'd play along for now.

"Yup." House replied almost proudly like he'd just accomplished something amazing. "I just realized something important yesterday..."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "If you're trying to build up the suspense, it's not working. But my irritation on the other hand, is growing quite nicely. So hurry up and get on with it."

"Get on _with it_?" House echoed, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. He headed for the stairs, pulling her away from the doorway and along with him, but looked dismayed at the steps. "Darn, could you carry me downstairs?"

"How'd you get up here in the first place?"

"Cane," he lifted the wooden object pointedly. "And my determination to see you naked," when she looked at him questioningly, he clarified, "I wanted to test my theory if you slept in the nude or not."

She glared at him but didn't reply like she usually would have and grudgingly helped him down the stairs. At least now, they could get away from the bedroom and find somewhere to sit.

"Anyway," House continued, leaning on Cuddy a little more than he actually needed. "Yesterday, I realized that I'm in," he made a heart shape with his index fingers and thumb, grinning, "love."

They'd reached the couch by now and she pushed him one end of it while she sat at the other end and stared at him. House knew she was trying to decide whether to discard her pride and just ask him who it was he was supposedly in love with, or whether not to believe him at all because he might just be screwing with her head after all. And since when was House _ever _so open with her anyway?

"With who - or _what_ - are you in love with?" She asked with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm insulted!" House exclaimed, eyes growing wide and faking hurt. "You think I'd give my poor and fragile heart to an object?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't already given it to your cane." She remarked dryly, watching him as he bounced his cane up and down on her carpet, the rubber end connecting and reconnecting with her floor with every thud.

"I did before, but it broke my heart today," House threw the cane across the room suddenly and Cuddy watched, horrified as it almost smashed into a picture frame hanging from the wall in her living room before falling down to the carpeted ground. "See? It abandoned me."

Her lips twitched upwards, expression bordering on amusement and an angry smile.

"Who are you in love with then?" She repeated.

"Cameron."

She turned her head at him, surprised at a) him telling her something like this and b) him actually being in _love _with _Cameron_. Allison Cameron? Her thoughts swam and collided, jealousy rearing its ugly head.

_Young, pretty, smart; exactly his type. _

Cuddy sighed heavily, her exterior expression almost completely calm, save for the little twitch at her temple. Her face betrayed nothing however.

"You woke me up," she spoke coldly, "at 2 in the morning to tell me that you're in love with your employee?"

"Pretty much." House replied, staring at her blank expression—maybe close to anger now?—strangely. Her lack of reaction bothered him. _No one _could remain that calm after having found out _Gregory House's_ secret feelings

The couch on House's side dipped deeper as Cuddy got up and headed to the door.

"Okay, you've told me," she said, hands pausing on the doorknob now that he went to retrieve his fallen cane before limping after her. "Now go ask her out. Tell her how you feel, because you know she isn't going to turn you down. Do anything, just—just go away."

"You almost sound jealous."

"I'm _tired_, House!" She yelled, surprising even him as her frustration continued building up from a whole week of stressful hospital work, and now _this_—a time bomb he'd set off that was now blowing up in his face. "What do you want me to say? That I'm so envious of her because I secretly want you? I don't even know why you told _me_ of all people. To annoy me? Well it's working because I still have work to do tomorrow and I like to arrive on time, unlike you!"

He let her end her rant. Her knuckles whitened from her tight grip on the doorknob and the blood quickly rushed back when she loosened and turned the knob, opening the front door. A rush of cold air from outside whished through the 3 inch gap.

His cane shot out before she could stop it, the door slammed shut as he jabbed, and everything else was a blur before Cuddy suddenly found her back connecting against the hard wood of her door. He pushed, hands tilting her head upwards and his rough lips assaulted hers, demanding entrance.

His mouth was intoxicating, his proximity already driving her to the point of oblivion and his hands wandered over her arms, now caressing her back. His cane clattered to the floor, forgotten. His tongue pried her lips open and she squeaked, much to his amusement, as she suddenly felt his hands inside her robe, fumbling with the buttons of her top. His mouth explored downward now, trailing kisses down her neck, kissing just below the ears and she shivered as she felt his mouth pull into a smile.

She remembered his earlier words. Her head was swimming and she was drowning in his sea blue eyes, deeper than the ocean, she decided. But even so, she remembered that he said he didn't love her. She abruptly pushed him away, panting for fresh air - trying to come back to her reality. He was like a drug to her, numbing all her five senses until she couldn't even think straight. This time, she recovered quickly.

"Making out with me isn't going to win her over." She spat angrily, both at her own torn down walls and at him, as she wrapped her robe back around herself.

House frowned, breathless and numb himself. He had the urge to just wrap his arms back around her and continue what he started, but he couldn't let her think that she was only a replacement, or an object to make another girl jealous.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "But I never said I wanted to win her over."

"You said you're in love with her - "

He cut her off, "When have I ever been serious?"

She stared at him, glaring. Either he'd already messed with her before, or he was trying to jerk her around now.

"When a man tells you he loves someone else," House said, completely serious. "You're supposed to get jealous or angry, not have no reaction at all and encouraging him to go ahead with the other woman. It's no wonder your love life never work out."

Cuddy gaped at the accusation, "No, it's because _you_ keep ruining all my dates!"

"They were all idiots!"

"I _liked _them!" She protested.

"I _didn't_."

Cuddy gaped once again, "You've been crashing all my dates so far because you didn't like them? That's, that's…— "

"No, you're mine," he declared and she scoffed. "Only I get to see you naked under me."

"I'm not your fuck-buddy, House." She said, "and you've already had your chance with me. Now it's time to let go."

He frowned once more. "What if I don't want to?" He asked, voice low and careful, and for a minute, he thought she hadn't heard him.

"The ship - " she began.

" - has sailed. Blah blah blah!" He parroted her previous words to him and she smiled. "Get over me, blah blah blah. I already heard all that crap. But when have I ever listened to a word you said?"

"Fine. Then do you like me, House?"

And suddenly, the balls were in his court, she'd easily turned the tables and the not present audience was now focused solely on him.

House knew this was fight or flight.

And he never chose the latter.

"Who are you asking? Greg, or House?"

"There's a difference?"

"Yeah, definitely," he replied. "Greg would tell you have he's totally in love with you and House wouldn't give you an answer."

"You make it sound like you have multiple personality disorder."

"Hey!" He exclaimed loudly, nearly pouting and almost making her laugh—again. "I'm _trying _to make a point here, and you're making fun of it! Only I'm allowed to do that."

She smiled, "You're _such _a romantic."

"I know, that's what all the women say about me."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, "I was being sarcastic."

"I know." His voice a little too cheerful for her liking. "It's just fun annoying you. Did you know everyone at the hospital thinks our arguments are just foreplay?" She opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her off. "So let's get over the foreplay already. Foreplay's supposed to be short and get us warmed up, ours has lasted over... 20 years."

"I've never heard of arguing being foreplay."

"No..." She felt his hand on the back of her neck, circling tiny patterns with his fingers as he caressed her pale skin. He could feel her goosebumps as she shivered under his touch; loving the effect he had on her. "20 years of constant arguing. The sex better be damn good." He said, leading her over to the living room and bringing her down on the couch, going along with her and careful not to hurt his leg.

"Sex?" She laughed. "Is that all you think about? To get in bed with me?"

"Uh," he looked around. "This isn't exactly a bed, is it? So no, that's not all I think about."

"Oh, thank you so much," she replied sarcastically. "That's so reassuring."

He rolled his eyes as his mouth descended upon hers, firmly this time, testing the waters to see how far she'd allow him to go. Her arms wrapped around him automatically; their bodies fit perfectly, melting together.

With him, his presence, Cuddy thought that maybe, some small part of her really _was _reassured.

_**End.**_

* * *

There is _so not _a Great Wall of China between love and hate, as House claims. Maybe he thought so in Season 1 (denial) but god, can you deny the attraction in Season 3? I am totally and utterly in love with this pairing. Their arguing? That is _definitely _foreplay.

-cough cough- I have never written anything beyond a butterfly kiss in my life. So this is a little new to me and I hope it turned out decent enough. I enjoyed writing this whole fic though. A record: I finished a fanfic in one day. I usually lose inspiration and leave it sitting on my desktop after only 30 minutes. Aren't you happy how much I love you guys, House & Cuddy? xD

Feel free to leave a review to tell me what you liked, disliked, what could need some improvement. I'm definitely looking for tips on writing, especially for sentence structure and the flow of them.


End file.
